Ada leaned against the fence at the top of the beach. She looked down on the group of River Boys on the beach below as they handed around cans of beer, chatting loudly. Loud music blared from their speakers.

Heath sauntered past her. A box of beer under each his arm.

"Hey!" She shouted. "What's this?"

"We're celebrating Casey's bail release." He yelled back. "Thought that's what you wanted, me on side."

He turned away and strolled down to join the boys on the beach. They roared with delight at his and the beer's arrival.

"Casey's not even here." Ada muttered under her breath. She sighed.

She noticed a couple of girls weave their way through the boys. The boys whistled and swooned as they came by, offering them each a can. The girls gladly accepted.

Ada focused in on Marco. He chugged back a beer and laughed with his friends.

One of the girls made her way towards him.

He smiled when he saw her and opened his arms to hug her. He grabbed another beer and cracked it open.

Ada studied them.

They crashed their cans together in a cheers, the eye contact between them lingering. His arm hovered around her shoulders. Her arm wrapped around his waist.

Marco cried out with laughter. The girl attached to his side displayed a cheesy grin. She leaned in to him and placed a hand on his chest as she joined in, giggling.

Ada rolled her eyes and turned around, striding towards the surf club.

Inside the restaurant, Ada cleared the rest of the tables. She shoved the chairs under the tables, much harder than necessary.

Marco stumbled through the door. He chose to ignore her, drifting towards the bar.

Ada moved into his path.

"Who was she?" She asked.

Marco barged past her, retrieving bottles from the fridge.

"Are you still not talking to me?" Ada persisted.

"You're the one who wants to keep things quiet." He grumbled, shoving as many bottles as he could carry into his arms.

"Look, I did what I had to do. It was good money."

Marco slammed the fridge door closed. "Yeah, rich kids tend to pay good money to buy whatever they want." Marco moved around the bar towards her. "I just never thought you could be bought."

Ada glared at him, outraged. "He didn't buy me!"

"Whatever."

Marco pushed past her and strode out of the restaurant.

Ada opened the door. The living room was dimly lit. Casey sat alone at the kitchen table, shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Hey." She spoke.

Casey nodded in response.

She put her keys down on the side.

"Cereal for dinner?" She asked. "I could've bought you something from work."

"It's what I fancied." Casey mumbled.

"You know there's a party in your honour happening down at the beach."

"I don't really feel like partying."

Ada sat with him at the table. "Yeah, me either. Brax said you're heading back to school tomorrow?"

He shrugged. "Not like there's much point. I'll be leaving soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Murder carries twenty-five to life."

She leaned towards him, confused. "Casey, you're not going to go away for this."

Casey stood up and dumped his bowl in the sink.

"You don't know that." He muttered and shuffled down the hallway.

"Hey, doll!" Irene chirped.

"Hi, Irene. Could I get a black coffee please?"

"Sure thing, love. To have in or to go?"

Ada surveyed the café. On the corner table were Jaxson and two of his mates. They all leaned in watching a video on one of their phones, chuckling. She turned back around and slid the money into Irene's hand.

"To go, please."

"Cheers, doll."

Ada gave her a smile.

Jaxson appeared behind her.

"I heard Casey got out on bail." He remarked. "After… you know… your Dad."

Ada whipped around to face him. "You been spreading that around school?"

Jaxson looked taken aback, confused and offended. He shook his head. "No."

"Good."

"Here you go, doll." Irene handed Ada her coffee.

"Thanks." Ada took it and strutted out of the café.

Jaxson chased after her.

Once outside, Jaxson caught up with her. He reached out and touched her arm.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Are you a jerk?" She exploded. "Or not? Is this some kind of joke to you?"

"That's a lot of questions."

"And? What are the answers, Jaxson? You pay me, well, too well, to tutor you yet I watch you treat my brother and Marco like trash! You're nice to me and then you chuck me out of your house-"

"I explained that." He interrupted.

"Did you? Or did you just come by the restaurant to wind up Marco."

"What? No!" He sighed in frustration. "Look, that prick threatened me at school, alright?"

"So, it was about him."

"No!"

"I knew it." Ada shook her head fiercely.

He took a step towards her. "Ada! I care about you." He swallowed and shrugged. "I don't know why. I paid you to tutor me because I thought it could help both of us."

"That's the truth?"

"Yes. You're honest… and direct… and a little crazy."

She crossed her arms over her chest.

He continued, "But, when I hang out with you I forget about school and my mum and it's the only chance I get to just not think about all of it. I'm trying to change, okay?"

Ada scoffed. "I've heard that before."

He met her glare, but his gaze was soft, genuine. "Not from me."

She mulled over his words. After a lengthy pause, a scowl formed on her face.

"If you're serious, you should talk to Casey." She strode away.

Jaxson breathed a large sigh.

Casey lurked by the lockers, trying to not let the whispers and sniggers of his classmates bother him. He turned towards the lockers and tapped his fist rhythmically against the metal door.

"Hey, mate."

Casey slowly turned around. "Ah, Jaxson. I'm not in the mood." He said through gritted teeth. "Just get lost, will you?"

Jaxson held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not trying to bug you. Listen, mate, I just want to put the past behind us."

Casey scoffed. He stepped to Jaxson. "Do you think I'm going to kill you or something? You heard about me and my Dad and what? Now you're afraid?"

"Nah, nah," Jaxson protested. "It's nothing to do with you. I've got my own stuff going on and I'm just trying to start over."

Casey shook his head and raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding?"

"No. I just wanted to let you know."

Casey pressed his lips together. "Alright."

Jaxson nodded his head. He turned to leave but hands grabbed onto his shirt and thrust him back into the locker. Jaxson's head slammed against it. He groaned.

Marco bared his teeth. "What the hell are you doing?" He hissed.

"It's alright, it's alright." Casey said, trying to pry Marco away.

Marco's glare burned into Jaxson. He lifted him away from the locker and then slammed him back into it again. Jaxson winced in pain.

"I warned you." Marco spat. He lifted his fist and pummelled it into Jaxson's face.

The entire corridor turned to watch, just as blood squirted from Jaxson's nose.

Marco raised his fist again. "I warned you to stay the hell away from us." Marco landed his fist back onto Jaxson's face.

Casey lurched forward and attempted to pull Marco away. Marco wrestled him off.

Ada entered the corridor and took in the commotion. She sprinted towards the scene that was unfolding in front of her and tried to plant herself between Marco and Jaxson.

"What the hell are you doing?" She screamed in Marco's face.

"MR DIAZ!" A voice bellowed from the end of the corridor.

Silence fell over the crowd. Mrs Palmer raced forward.

Marco released his grip, panting.

"Everybody, to class." Mrs Palmer roared. "Now!"

The corridor erupted with movement as students shuffled away, throwing horrified stares over their shoulders.

Marco took a step back and wiped his face with the back of his hand, his knuckles busted and bruised.

Jaxson clutched at his nose, his hands quickly became covered in his own blood.

"Marco, my office." Mrs Palmer bellowed.

Marco shook Casey's hand off of his shoulder and strode down the corridor.

Ada exhaled. She watched as he disappeared from sight.

Marco pulled of his shirt and attached his surf board to his ankle.

Ada sprinted down the beach towards him.

He glanced up.

"You got kicked out of school?" She asked.

Marco gazed out to the sea. "Yeah."

She took a step towards him. "So, what? What are you going to do? Work at the restaurant all your life?"

"I don't need the restaurant job, I've got the boys."

"Great, be a career criminal. That'll definitely end well." She retorted, bitterly.

"Ah, what did you expect, Ad?" He shouted.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

"We're not the same people." He took a breath, defeated. "I think you've made that pretty clear."

He picked up his board and took off, into the ocean.